Abysmal Hope
by Abysmal Paradise
Summary: Hope. It helped us survive, it helped us conquer. But how is this psychological illusion measured? In futility or in faith? What happens when a hero with abysmal hope meets a man with faithful futility?
1. Game Over

Abysmal Hope

_"We are, when cause is sufficient, insane."_

_Death filled the battlefield. Not death of men but of his creations. The mad doctor looked on as the blue warrior had destroyed his machines—his children. He vowed revenge but a pang of doubt and a realization of the obvious hit him. He realized that whatever he did to that hedgehog whatever he tried to do to kill him, or his comrades, he failed at it. Yet the Blue Warrior dusted himself off and asked of him, another adventure like it was some sort of sick game to him. Like these robots were merely pieces of scrap toys that he played with and his friends adored him for it. The Doctor felt an unquenchable fury. He vowed he would make that damn creature pay. He vowed he would strike fear in his heart, he promised he would give the organization that ruined his father; the GUN, the greatest struggle of their lives. He vowed that he would choke the world and hold it as it slowly dies out then he would watch as he'd crush its throat and let it die. Most of all, he promised that this time, there won't be any games; there won't be any plans to foil. He will not fail. _

_Not anymore. _

Darkness and silence shrouded the messy room, with several yellow, blinking lights on a massive yet sleek computer. Its CPU took up the entire room, emitting blinking lights and occasional beeps. Keystrokes on a keyboard were the dominant sound in the room as the man sitting behind a computer sneered. The screen was 52 inches with 4 inch images side by side for a total of 13 images. The keystrokes intensified as he wrote down "Initiate ping sequence." An image on one of the 13 screens popped up as the man pressed the enter key, soon the 13 screens glowed and merged into one whole screen.

Finally, a command sequence popped up on the screen. As the man kept typing while the room began humming slowly. The keystrokes intensified. The humming grew, and the collaboration between the humming and the keystrokes continued. Soon, the hum was an explicit sound of a fan whirring inside the CPU as its receptors got terabytes of data. The man took a deep breath as he typed "Initiate command. Command type B. Ping 3. Initiate Ping. Identify model unit. Identify location. Ping model Unit 14214 GUN. Initiate files _PASSWORD." The man sneered as he pressed enter. In mere seconds a window popped up on the screen replied. "Hack Successful. File ECLIPSE_ imported." Suddenly, the yellow blinking turned blue, and the screen shut off. The man quickly looked at the CPU as it begun re-booted. The man shook; not with fear but with ecstatic pleasure. The screen suddenly showed the words "CONFIDENTIAL ACCESS GRANTED: WELCOME PRESIDENT."

The Doctor sighed, as a maniacal smirk formed on his lips. He wore a red jump suit and had a bald head with a few brown hairs, as well as a maniacal moustache. His blue goggles reflected the glow of seven chaos emeralds powering the Quantum Computer.

A squad of three fighter jets careened in the sky, spitting out jet fuel leaving gaseous trails behind them while going at supersonic speeds. There were in a strict triangular formation. Each jet was an advanced version of an F-14 fighter jet named "The Hydra" packed with 50 caliber bullets and stinger missiles that packed a punch. It was a state-of the art soon-to be standard GUN air force jet fighter. The most resilient of its kind, it took everything the GUN artillery gave it and it still functioned properly. Unless it was shot down at an extremely close range or a barrage of machine guns came in its way, the Hydra would win any dog fight guaranteed.

The captain, Daz, was the most skilled of the squad. It was why he loved GUN so much, it was different from the world, GUN was a meritocracy; they rated people on how they performed not who played golf with the president. The squad weren't pushovers either, all ace pilots were doing a standard diagnostics on the plane by taking it for a ride or as they called it "Takin' the honey out for a walk."

"Command this is Hydra four-six Oh, the sky looks clear and the Hydra is functioning as expected, over" The Daz, the pilot of a zooming fighter jet spoke from his oxygen mask. The sky was clear with little clouds at the attitude of over 20,000 feet hanging just mere miles from the stratosphere.

"Copy, Hydra four-six oh this is Command, let us know when you're due for re-fuel then report back to base, over."

The static radio voice spoke as Daz nodded mentally and responded."Copy that command, over and out."

"Aww yeah! We are takin' this bitch out to ride!" Sergeant Mike spoke over the radio. Daz shook his head as he smirked a little. It was typical Mike, though a crack shot and one of the best of the squadron it was probably because he had a passion for the women and, if he didn't have a girl in the flesh, he'd either name his car, his jet or even his house, "Baby."

But there was also something Daz could never figure out; his sudden outbursts of reflective persona. When they were on the ground Mike would not stop talking about women, but in the air he was a whole different person. Mike saw the beauty of the sky, his lifelong dream of being an astronaut almost seemed like he could touch it with his very hands.

"Gimme the word commander, I'ma perform a 360 and show how it's done."

"Oh please, you're just gonna end up crashing." Lieutenant Bret teased the no-nonsense and head strong pilot that always thought of the situation in the manner where they'd always complete the mission. "Give us the word, let's get this over with." He said.

Daz looked around to measure the trajectory to make sure everything was safe to let them fly around as they pleased, he checked everything—and re-checked, a true perfectionist he was. He nodded to himself as he breathed a couple times to let him concentrate fully on the task at hand—recreation. "Alright Delta squad Four-Six Oh, disengage and break formation. Meet back at base at oh-three hundred." The captain spoke as the fighter jets behind him tilted left and right respectively and disappeared in the sky. Daz sighed, losing his oxygen mask as he took a nose dive—it was always exhilarating for him—as a pilot to do these kinds of things. It was like he was a beast and had to be let out from time to time to loosen up.

"Yo, Cap! Check this shit out! Look on your three o'clock!" Mike said out loud as Daz looked at his right and saw Mike perform a clean barrel roll as he took a nosedive and performed a revolution as well as rotation. "I call that a Double 360, baby!" he said out loud as Daz chuckled a bit and congratulated Mike. The sky rattled as Daz looked up on the transparent roof as he noticed thunder clouds coming in. It was odd; he didn't expect thunder to roll in at this time. _Oh well_, he thought, figuring it was a minor shower. It happened a lot, especially at this altitude. By the time they drop down to 10,000 feet the droplets would most likely evaporate. Daz shrugged as he contacted the team to wrap up their game and get back into formation. Suddenly, lightning flashed right next to his jet. Instinctively he jerked the jet to the left, and closing his eyes so that he wouldn't go blind.

Minutes later, he opened his eyes and saw his plane was in a free fall with the alarm beeping. He quickly turned on the backup switch as the power was instantly backed on. However, he felt something different like he wasn't in control. His screen turned black and the radar disappeared, the jet was working perfectly yet the electrical aspect was dead. Daz grimaced and tired to troubleshoot it and suddenly the plane jerked upward doing a 360 degree spin barely missing Mike's jet.

"Whoa, Captain what the hell?" Mike exclaimed.

"It wasn't me!" Daz said as he went into a nosedive, the gravity felt strong, as his nose began to bleed it was as if he was being crushed. The altimeter was dropping like crazy as it read 20,000 feet and dropped to 7,000 feet in several seconds. Daz frantically tried to regain control however he saw the ground. Dread washed over him as he closed his eyes preparing for the end. Suddenly, the jet jerked upwards-going straight towards Mike. What he saw next truly hit him harder than any other dogfight he'd ever been in—his weapons were engaged and pointed right at Mike. Daz instantly tried to abort and kept pressing it frantically. He even tried to press eject so that the plane would stop but nothing worked. He was truly helpless. Suddenly he looked to his left—as a missile launched toward Mike. Daz, realizing the situation screamed in his headset:

"OUT THE WAY MIKE!"

Mike quickly tiled left and turned left as he performed several twists and turns in order to shake off the missile. Mike took a straight nosedive, going as low as 1,000 feet and then taking his plane upwards in a curve. He felt some grazing—realizing he was dangerously close to the ground he turned on his afterburners and shot back up into the sky.

"Okay, let's see what you got." Mike mumbled as he pressed the super-sonic button and shot off into the stratosphere. The gravity crushed Mike and he felt he'd pop any second. Sweat soaked his face as he saw the blue sky getting darker and darker. He saw the stars—the constellations like he never did before. Even in this dangerous situation he was fixated—fixated on the beauty of outer space—they were like nymphs. Alluring and tempting but the journey towards them would only end in tragedy.

The jet kept on going as his after burners finally gave out and he was just riding his momentum. He looked at his radar and he saw the missile warning had disappeared. He took a great sigh of relief. He knew he'd have to eject but he needed to wait 'till he got in some safe distance to the ground. He waited for gravity to take its course. Soon the plane started falling—it was like a roller coaster. It went up and then shot down.

"CAPTAI—" Were the last words Daz heard as he saw the plummeting jet fall victim to the oldest trick in the book; waiting for the jet to fall and then shower them with missiles and bullets. He saw Mike's plane explode in a fiery ball and the kill was confirmed with the static in his headset. Daz shut his eyes, he swallowed up sadness. He couldn't live with such a thing. He didn't know what was happening.

"It's a hack." Bret calmly said in Daz's headset. Daz quickly held his headset, filed with hope as his eyes were watery.

"B...Bret? Bret…run! Get out of here now!" Daz said.

"And leave you with a hacked Hydra? You do realize how dangerous this plane is right? I leave, you go AWOL, and Hydra might end up in the wrong hands. They can mass produce it to a ridiculous amount to make our fleet miniscule. No. We end this now. I was hovering at a low altitude watching this. I recorded it, and sent it to base. They're running diagnostics. I'm sorry about Mike, but I can't reveal my position to you. Your plane will most likely try to look for me." Bret said, calmly explaining it to him. He was also filled with dread, sadness and anxiety but he kept it inside—he had to.

Daz nodded, he realized he was the captain and the best fighter pilot around. So he did what he'd never do. Daz punched the radar screen rendering it useless. He knew the hacker had the software but Daz had the hardware. Daz kept on making the jet immobile; trying to handicap it to ensure the Hacker would just give up.

"Captain Daz, this is Command." Base said extreme worry in their voice. "Listen…we couldn't find the hacker…we tried but this son of a bitch can't be found." There was a pause. "You understand what you must do?"

Daz nodded and swallowed his grief. Death in the battlefield. He always wanted to go that way. He pressed the "record" button in order to show command inside the jet whether they'd retrieve any clues. "I'm gonna stream this to you guys. Show it to Unholy Trinity…show it to Shadow." Daz said.

"Agreed." Command replied.

Instantly, the jet fighter, Hydra started shooting. Daz looked up to see Bret evading the machine gun. A disillusioned Daz spoke.

"How many more kills do you need to be promoted?"

"1." Bret replied.

"Well, it seems I'm attacking you. So, I just committed treason and I'm the enemy of the state."

"It'll be an honor blowing you to hell." Bret replied as he jerked his plane upwards as performed a clean loop—going right behind Daz and started shooting.

The Hydra instantly swerved around; doing plenty of flips to shake off Bret but Bret trailed him. He hit Hydra as Daz lost an after burner.

The computer screen in Daz's jet flashed warnings.

Suddenly, Daz's Hydra rotated its afterburners pointing them downwards in order for the plain to hover in mid air giving it instant maneuverability as it hovered in midair and turned around firing bullets of its own towards Bret who instantly jerked the plane to the right to evade the bullets. The Hydra was now on the chase.

The Hydra sprayed bullets at Bret who got hit several times on its wing. Bret clenched his jaw as he jerked upwards as Hydra followed him. Bret slowed down as Hydra got near him firing. Bret took several shots; he was already close enough, however, and he turned on his afterburners at just the right moment, burning Hydra's nose and rendering a lot of its operations useless. Bret launched into the stratosphere trying to escape and re-group.

Bret looked up as he saw blaring warnings on his screen. The sky got dark—a stinger missile was heading towards him. Bret grimaced, looked back at the missile as he dropped down setting out flares—it had no effect this one went after heartbeats. Bret went several thousand altitudes down as he flew through a dangerous mountain range trying to shake the stinger.

The stinger got close as Bret once again activated his after burners going extremely fast. He saw Hydra in front of him as his eyes widened. The Hydra fired as Bret tilted to the right. The Bullets hit the stinger and it exploded. Bret's wings suddenly came in contact with one of the mountains hitting it. The wing broke in two as Bret spun around—free falling. He looked saw a missile lock on him once more and in front of him he saw a mountain.

"Sorry Cap." Bret said in Daz's devastated ear as the missile hit Bret right when he crashed into the mountain.

Daz looked at the destroyed plane. A sense of defeat and helplessness washed over him. The screen made a noise as he looked at it. A sense of dread filled him, and a cold chill went up his spine as the screen read as the screen read:

"You all thought I was dead, giving up on life. You were wrong. This time no creature will stop me. This time it will be a war. Against Sonic, Against GUN, against the world. And this time, you will all fall. As far as you're concerned…you'll be the first casualty of this war."

Hydra titled on its left wing, turning a full 180 on the left to go through a small crack. The eject light flashed and the roof blew open and shattered as it hit the hard surface of the rock. Daz was also launched as he finally figured out who it was, but before it registered in his brain, before anything registered in his brain, before he could say goodbye to his teammates, his career, GUN, or his life. Before life could even flash right in front of him, his skull crushed against the rocks. In a split second of reflection Daz felt what death felt like. Nothingness.

PS: YES! The unvieling of a brand new sucessor of COTD! I know it took a while but slowly and steadily it will gain speed and momentum. Thank you to all who supported this story gave it its 100+ reviews. And to the new readers: Please, PLEASE stay. I promise, this will be one hell of a roller coaster ride!


	2. The Unholy Trinity

Chapter 2: The Unholy Trinity

**Unknown Dessert, 4:00 PM**

A gust of wind hit the blue hedgehog as he kept a narrow stare at his sparring partner, Shadow. He was slightly bent at the knees while breathing slowly as grains of dust around him were circling in slow rotations.

Shadow moved his feet slightly, skidding over the dirt and causing Sonic to instantly react with instinct, inching his right foot forward. He stopped abruptly as a drop of sweat rolled down his furry cheeks. He kept his breathing steady, trying not to be excited or overly reactive. He needed to be calm—as calm as can be. His left hand was slowly moving back, and his right hand doing just the opposite. Anxiety rushed him; what if Shadow made a move? He wouldn't be fast enough to hit him in this stance.

Paranoia began to take over: What if his shoes were untied? He felt his stomach rumble; he hadn't eaten in a while. Sonic began to wonder whether it would affect his concentration or his speed. He'd left Amy alone and Knuckles and Tails were out in the Mystic Ruins, trying to discover some artifacts that Tails was interested in. Would they be alright? Worry consumed Sonic and the pressure built up like a pressure cooker as Sonics's breathing paced a bit faster.

Suddenly, he saw movement; like a cat he rushed at Shadow going full speed as dust trailed off behind him as the wind blew in his face as Shadow's figure got closer and closer. Sonic clenched his fists and then, in a flash of green light, Shadow disappeared. Sonic then felt a sickening thud on his left cheek; losing his balance, the blue critter fell down on his right brushing against the sand and rolling in it due to the high velocity he was moving at. Finally, the momentum died off and Sonic landed on his back. He groaned as he sat up stroking his cheek and spitting out excess blood. The cheek was swollen and it felt extremely sore.

"Anxiety?" Shadow asked.

"Yeah," Sonic admitted.

"You need to let yourself be free of things around you. Your excitement and instinct tells you that you need to run; but you should ignore it because instinct will only get you so far. If you are to use Chaos Control, instinct should follow YOU, not the other way around." Shadow proclaimed

Sonic yawned as he rubbed his face once more. He put on his cocky grin and lay on his back. Bending his knees, he performed a swift kick up to get back on his feet. "Relax Shads; let's go get some chily dogs. I gotta get this cheek fixed by Amy."

An idea popped into his mind. "Race ya there," Sonic challenged.

Shadow smirked and was about to respond when his cell phone went off; the vibration in his back pocket only meant one thing-GUN.

**GUN HQ Top Secret Base, Unknown Location**

"You all thought I was dead, giving up on life. You were wrong. This time no creature will stop me. This time it will be a war, against Sonic, against GUN, against the world. As far as you're concerned…you'll be the first casualty of this war." The remote clicked "Pause" as the recording stopped dead in its tracks.

"This is what we have so far." The General of GUN de-briefed his thick, white hair stacked neatly on his head. He was exceptionally fit for a man of his age. He even refused to wear a formal coat of arms that other high ranking officers did. He always preferred to be closer to the soldiers—and he knew that given the proper morale they'd move mountains. His no nonsense, blue/amber eyes scanned the room.

"Wow, looks like the fighter jet turned into the Terminator," Veyron, an orange hyena with black stripes, quipped. He was quite battle scared, with three scars on his cheeks and one along his jugular. Veyron was part of an elite GUN unit as well as the best fighter around.

"It was a virus of some sort." Satchel, a blue fox with red stripes noted, ignoring Veyron. He always examined a situation dispassionately before making a judgment that was for the good of the mission. Despite his soft-spoken persona, he was feared among the GUN ranks because of his ruthless attitude.

"Terminator's takin' over the world!" Veyron quipped once more, "He got bored with governing California, hey, maybe he can also transform like them robots!"

"You're an idiot," Satchel told Veyron blatantly.

"Yeah well, at least I'm not a dull little bitch who does nothing but point out obvious facts," Veyron replied teasingly.

"Enough." Hazel, a black coyote raised his voice in the midst of the arguments, Hazel was the leader of the squad, called "The Unholy Trinity" because of the types of missions they were assigned and the deadly efficiency they achieved while working together. They were the best GUN had to offer, lead by the most fierce captain in GUN, Shadow. "Veyron. You said it's a virus. How can someone hack through our security? We got a damn country-sized hardware that runs our security software."

"Then it's gotta be an inside job." Veyron said. The only people who could do this are scientists working for GUN.

"Or Dr. Robotnik," A gruff voice said out loud as the seated squadron turned around to greet their captain.

A black hedgehog with red stripes, with a dead-set eyes that were filled with tragedy and the no-nonsense posture of Shadow who walked in.

"Impossible. Even if Eggman could break into the security system, we can detect any virus that can ever be formed. Satchel refuted, "And even if he sent a virus, the calculations are impossible for even the strongest GUN supercomputer. Satchel stopped dead in his tracks realizing, what Shadow was implying

"Unless it was a quantum computer" Shadow emphasized looking directly at the General. He had read up on the quantum computer being developed for GUN. It was top secret and no one had to know about it. The only people that did were top officials and the General himself. One would think that the General had a hand in this yet Shadow wouldn't even take it into consideration. Shadow's disdainful eyes were because General had to take a backseat when top officials played golf with rich conglomerates, selling military hardware for profit so they could have a bigger house than the one they already have.

The General, clearly reading Shadow solemnly "It wasn't my decision. The president—"

"This president is more of a moron than the last one and the only decent president we had got shot in the head. That was why we needed something as reliable as the Quantum computer and the moron wanted it for corporations. General, with all due respect, you're not his lackey." Shadow criticized. "Now the private corporation that they sold it to must be a front for Robotnik. What we need to find out is how he gathered so many funds without people raising eyebrows. I haven't seen robotic creatures rob any banks."

"Hey, uh what's a Quantum computer again?" Veyron asked dumbfounded.

"Consider the fastest computer in the world—it calculates a terabyte per second. The quantum computer, however, calculates a 100,000 terabytes of calculations/second" Hazel explained. "What I wanna know is, even if he has the quantum computer, he doesn't have the power to run it. The corporations we sold it to must get the power output from us." Hazel asked with curiosity.

"The Chaos Emeralds." Satchel whispered. "They're the only things that can power it this much. But, at full power he can hack any technology he wants. He could pretty much rule the world, and the fact that he hasn't means he does not have all of them." Satchel deduced.

"We need to trace the money; we can find him through there" Hazel strategized.

"We need the final Chaos emerald. If we have that, then he'll have to come to us" Satchel deduced.

"We need to mobilize the troops Robotnik could not have just created a corporation like that. A scientist, a businessman and a government man has been paid off. I'll go talk to them" Veyron smirked by talk he meant making them squeal.

Shadow sat there as he looked at the screen. Shadow saw the pilot, Daz disillusioned. "Bring in your best minds; make sure the Eclipse Cannon is impenetrable." Shadow warned. "I have feeling he might be going for Central City."

Everyone in the room tensed up, they knew the repercussions if this happened. The public would come down on them like crazy; GUN would be in serious jeopardy. They were the only people on the planet who had no rules and no laws. If this happened, the politics would turn GUN into an army just as corrupt as the politics that runs the army.

The General rubbed his temples as he nodded. "Alright" He announced, setting up a mental plan. "Hazel, you're going to Mombasa, our litigator lawyer is there. Talk to him or get him to talk if necessary" The General barked.

"Satchel, meet with our top IT guys, they'll fix what you need to look for the final emerald" The General commanded. "Veyron, mobilize the troops, set up operations around the world and gather as much information as you can."

"Shadow take control of Central City. Make sure NOTHING touches that place we still don't know if this is Dr. Robotnik, so don't rule anyone out." General ordered, as the group nodded, setting up their own strategies into motion.

"Got it" Shadow said as everyone got up and did what they were asked to do. Shadow set up a mental plan he would ask Tails for a high particle movement that can be detected from space and tell Knuckles that someone wants to challenge him.

Shadow would keep his mouth shut and not tell Sonic about this situation. He knew Sonic would become overzealous and would panic everyone, Shadow took a deep breath, he hoped that all of this was for nothing and Robotnik wasn't the one who did this—because if he was, Shadow had a feeling, that this would be the biggest fight Dr. Eggman would bring at them.

**3 Days later, Czech Republic 15:40**

"Get up, we're almost there" Baron Valois, a mercenary, shook Hazel's head which woke from a deep slumber. Hazel looked around with blurry eyes—they were in a car following a lead; Hazel arrived here yesterday hiring local mercenaries who knew these places. Hazel got a lead from Satchel, who told him about a money launderer that helped get Robotnik clean cash for the digital assets that Robotnik had obtained.

Hazel smirked; a foolish move for Alex the hacker knew they would track him down if he held on to the digital assets for too long. Instead he sold them to Alex for liquidated assets. Luckily for them, they knew exactly where Alex was. Though he did not expect to gain much information out of Alex he would at least know where the hacker contacted him from. Hazel rubbed his eyes and stretched his body as he looked around.

This was a rough part of the city they were in. He wasn't quite sure of the name, but then again, he wasn't quite sure of many things. Hazel moved around the world on a daily basis; he couldn't memorize many things except for major cities and countries.

He saw the traffic and the trees go by. This wasn't exactly a metropolis it was a place at elevation and the air was quite thin. Even if the sun shone brightly, one would get winded in no time. He made a mental note not to breathe too fast. He checked his weapons. A standard issue hand gun and an AK-47 were on him both, fully loaded. He was in a car with four mercenaries that were participating with this capture. They had just found Alex's right hand man, and were about to abduct him. A truck suddenly overtook him as Hazel's experience took over. "What's going on?" He asked the driver, Baron Valois.

"It looks like the Jew Bastard's got himself some police attention. Our work just got easier. Cops don't take too kindly to bribes. It's an insult to them—they expect a shitload and not chump change." Rick joked. Hazel cringed at the anti-Semitic remark as the rest condemned him for it.

"What is it with you and the Jews man?"

"I just don't like 'em alright? Shit, it's a free world." Rick retorted.

"They're stopping." Hazel said as the car braked, and Hazel looked closely, checking his weapon. The guards got out as the right hand man got into an argument with them.

"He doesn't look to happy to see them" Rick said.

Suddenly, the right hand man quickly grabbed his gun and shot the two cops in the chest and began shooting at the car. Hazel instantly ducked, Rick, however, wasn't so lucky and he got shot directly in the face. The other mercenaries took cover as Rick's head pressed on the horn and it beeped loudly. Hazel instantly wiped away the blood that splattered over him and got out of the car, equipping his handgun and gave chase. The gunshots made the pedestrians run in panic as the cars sped away.

"Target's running on the northwest I repeat, northwest!" Hazel exclaimed as he headed into an alleyway, newspaper flying by his feet as he saw him ran. Hazel looked up ahead and saw a fence; behind it he saw a maze of grounded structures that were uphill. He grimaced.

"There are local militias around here; we don't need to fuck around. If you have a shot, take it. Non lethal." Hazel said as a mercenary shot out of a door near the running target that fired a quick shot into the shoulder of that mercenary who was instantly taken down. He screamed as a bone popped out due to him falling the wrong way.

Hazel ignored his safety and ran past him, taking a left. The man swung his gun towards Hazel, blind firing at him with bad accuracy. Hazel ducked his head to the left, firing his shots of his own. Except they were aimed at a lever which instantly gave out and dropped down several construction rods causing to block the man's path. The man scanned around and instantly ran to the left. Hazel scanned the area and instantly climbed a fence. Hazel saw a cemetery, which let him cover quick ground. He ran across the cemetery stepping over dried flowers that gave fallen men their respects.

He climbed the fence across the field and saw the man run past him. As he dropped down, he aimed at the man's shin and fired two shots, which went through the foot as the pain overwhelmed the man and he limped forward. Hazel trotted towards the man, who fired some shots at Hazel. Hazel unflinchingly fired a few of his own that hit the man's right palm—knocking the gun and rendering the arm and the man harmless.

Hazel then huffed slightly as he reached over and grabbed the man by his hair, dragging him towards a nearby garage. The man struggled and groaned in his native language—Hebrew. Hazel opened the garage as the sunlight illuminated the dark and dusty urban cave. He threw the man in the garage as he heard sirens wailing nearby. Probably the shooting and the car crashes that drew attention. He cocked his gun and aimed at the man who squinted as the sunlight showed his battered and bruised face.

"Talk," was all Hazel said as the man mumbled something in Hebrew. Hazel, not understanding anything, contacted one of the mercenaries, who arrived in 15 minutes. The man translated the information to Hazel.

"He said Alex lives in a Hotel called Bacilli, room 308, just north of up here. He also says he's alone and he probably wouldn't be expecting you." The mercenary said. Hazel thanked him, paid him the sum he promised and took his leave.

**2 Hours Later, Hotel Bacilli.**

The stench of half-cooked meat and exotic spices ran up Hazel's nostrils as he walked to the dusty hotel. The hotel wasn't exotic by any means but affordable for middle-class tourists. He went over to a receptionist, who smiled at him, and he half-heartedly smiled back. "I'd like to know if there's an Alex who check in to room 308? " Hazel spoke slowly in order for her to understand.

Hazel walked over to the stairs towards the room and took three flights of stairs. He cursed the hotel for not having an elevator. Hazel finally reached the third floor and he scanned the area. There were two hallways; one to the left and one to the right. Hazel looked at the labels which said which rooms are on the left and the right. He turned left and scanned the doors until he finally reached 308.

Hazel looked around to make sure no one was looking and checked the lock, realizing it was open; he opened the door and walked in cautiously. He scanned around as he slowly entered. It was more of a impressive room than he thought. He listed the layout of the room in his head: A balcony straight ahead with a glass door, a couch and a TV to his right a bathroom right next to him and a bedroom 1 foot away from him to the left.

"Alex?" Hazel called out as he moved towards the balcony, taking small steps. Suddenly he heard a switchblade, and instantly Alex rushed out from the bedroom swinging it wildly. Hazel instantly sidestepped it as Alex kept on slashing the switchblade wildly at Hazel, slicing his right bicep. Hazel grimaced as he kept slapping away the blade.

He grabbed a vase from a table nearby and smashed it on Alex's hand. Alex groaned, grabbing his hand and trying to kick Veyron. Veyron grabbed his foot, but was pushed away when Alex jerked him off balance.

Veyron flipped over as a result, hitting the back of the couch. He got up and turned around only to be hit by a giant wooden board that Alex must've ripped from somewhere. He spit out blood as a result of the nails on the ends of the board scratching his cheek.

Veyron fell back; the force caused the television to collapse from its place. Veyron looked down on the cracked glass on the TV. He quickly grabbed a giant shard and got up.

As Alex screamed and tried a haymaker with the wooden board, Veyron sliced his gut. Alex dropped to the floor, groaning. Veyron sighed, knowing the battle was over. Alex crawled over to a corner as Hazel stalked him.

Alex looked back and smirked. He pressed a button in the corner as sprinklers suddenly shot out of the soft-wood roof and started sprinkling water. Hazel put his hand above his head, instantly suffering from cold shock. Alex, using it as a distraction, pushed Hazel back once more, snatching the glass shard away from his hand.

Hazel, finally recovering from cold shock saw Alex running at him. He quickly grabbed Alex's wrist, twisted it, kicked him in the gut, grabbed him, and threw him out of the room and onto the balcony. Alex was thrown out of the room, through the glass door that led to the balcony. Alex groaned, the blood loss from his gut and the other injuries took his toll on him as he lay on his back, soaked from the water.

Hazel walked briskly towards him and knelt down. He kneed him in the crotch as Alex screamed out. Instantly, Hazel stuck a glass shard close to Alex's jugular and punched him in the cheek. Alex spit out blood.

Hazel then viciously spat "you had your dance with me. Now talk."

"Fuck you." Alex said in broken English and forced his jugular onto the glass shard, resulting in his eventual death. Hazel looked at Alex, infuriated as Alex spit in his face and laughed until finally he began choking and finally went limp.

Hazel checked his pockets and found a paper slip. He saw a number sequence: 2,4,9,7.

Hazel registered those numbers into his head as he finally stood up. He immediately began to clean his wounds, then exited the room and walked briskly out of the hotel. Once he was far enough away, he reached into his pocket and called up Satchel

"Two four nine seven" Hazel said "That mean anything?"

"It's the last four digits of the IP address of the Quantum computer" Satchel said in his ear.

"Alright, I'm comin' home. Where are you?"

"Alaska. Looking at a guy who's about to get his head blown off." Satchel responded.

"Very good." Hazel responded as he shut off his phone. He looked towards the hotel and then towards the way he just came from. Even if this operation was successful, he had a gut feeling that something was going to go horribly wrong.

**Sonic's Beach house, 50 miles east of Central City **

"Ow!" Sonic winced, feeling a burning sensation on his cheek, which Amy was cleaning.

"Quiet Sonic" Amy retorted.

Sonic sighed, sitting on the chair, tapping his feet. He felt a feeling of nervousness, almost anxiety, when things couldn't be done on his pace. "C'mon Ames, it's just a flesh wound, why so serious?"

"It's not _just_ a flesh wound" Amy retaliated in a worried voice "It's about taking care of yourself, Sonic."

"Yeah, yeah" Sonic interrupted, not taking her warnings seriously. "Y'know Ames, one day I'll just outrun death so you'll be satisfied" Sonic flirted.

Amy quickly blushed as she avoided eye contact with Sonic. "I-I don't know what you're talking about."

"Heheheh." Sonic laughed, teasing Amy further, "sure you don't. Y'know, I saw this really cute girl the other day." Sonic intentionally lied.

Jealousy with a mix of rage was present in the undertone of Amy's voice "What's she like…?..!" Intent on having a "talk" with that girl.

"Oh, I don't know, I wasn't sure 'till Tails convinced me to ask her out."

"TAILS?" Amy screamed.

Sonic let out a giant laugh at the expense of a confused Amy. "You shoulda seen you're face! 'Course there isn't a girl, and Tails wouldn't know about this, if it bit him in the ass."

Amy quickly blushed once more as she turned away from Sonic. "I-I was just curious is all…" Amy, wanting to save face, quickly changed the subject. "Did you master the Chaos Control yet?"

Sonic pouted a bit and scratched his head "no, I don't know how Shadow does it. Staying calm and yet still move in an instant."

"You'll get it" Amy encouraged, patting Sonic on her shoulder, she smiled at him.

Sonic shrugged his shoulders as he nodded with acceptance "ah well, let's get some chili-"

Sonic then heard a large thud on the door, followed by another, and then a groan of help. Sonic and Amy quickly walked towards the door and opened it. Sonic widened his eyes as Amy shrieked and dug her face in Sonic's shoulder. Sonic, put his hand on Amy's head, while his gaze remained fixated at a soaked up body.

Sonic knelt down and examined the body and, his heart skipped a beat, once he saw a GUN emblem on his right sleeve. He checked the body's pockets and found a note. Sonic's face suddenly became grim once he saw what the note said:

"Dear Sonic,

Hope your cheek is okay, I hope you became stronger, because I want you at your maximum when I snap your neck.

PS: Please tell Shadow that his little league will also die."

**A/N: I know I haven't updated in like…a month but pneumonia and post-secondary will do that to you, good news is that I have a month off so I'll update much more frequently. Rate, Review and enjoy!" **


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